


Young People

by karrenia_rune



Category: Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-16
Updated: 2012-04-16
Packaged: 2017-11-03 18:56:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/384741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watching over young people even in the world underground is a full time job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Young People

Title: Young People  
Fandom: Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, general book series  
Author: karrenia_rune  
Rating: general audiences  
Character: Lily,(the White Pawn/OC: the Governess,  
a character I created for a previous fic ("Not Quite Like Romeo and Juliet"  
but it isn't necessary to have read that one to read this one.  
Also, the reference to the field of poppies comes from another prior story "Working without a Net".  
Words: 868  
Prompt: #44 youth, Table 1

42/50

Disclaimer: The Alice in Wonderland books are not mine nor are the characters who inhabit the  
verse; they are the original creations of Lewis Carroll. I claim only the words...

 

"Young People" by karrenia_rune

 

Her toes were bare and exposed to a stiff spring breeze that shifted direction from north to the east with the fluidity of the water of the brook below the wall on which she clung. It was a retaining wall enclosing a herb garden whose mingled aromas of marjoram, basil, and oregano.

She breathed in the heady scents of the spices and sighed in contentment. It was not very often that she had a chance like this, to get away from the close confines of the palace. There, she it felt like she was constantly surrounded by the entire household, retainers and servants of the White King and Queen.

Certain it was that if Lily were ever asked if she would trade what she had when another life, she would have replied in the negative because, on the whole, it was comfortable and familiar and she was content with her lot.

Every so often, just every so often, she felt the tingling’s of a desire for a change of scenery. She was a good and well-mannered girl and had learned her lessons well in deportment and obedience and for the most part had been able to damp down those restless desires to explore outside of her comfortable and immediate surroundings.

But, not now, not with the first bite of spring thaw in the air and a tantalizing and undefined urge that called to venture even farther out than she had ever before dared to go.

She gripped the cracks in the mortared stone of the wall with a tight grip, concentrating on her balance on her hands, her fingers curled and her body as ramrod straight as the shaft of a bow. Her tongue poked out between her teeth, the very picture of young girl caught in the midst of doing mischief.

In the next moment she executed a flip that brought her once more to a standing position and then walked carefully along the edge of the wall to stare down at the merrily chatting brook as bubbled along its path.

She smiled and then wondered what it would feel like to be that brook, to be all wet and cool, but she was a smart enough girl that was nothing more foolish to do than to jump into any body of water no matter what its size, especially if the one considering doing such a thing did not know how to swim.

At that precise moment she could faintly hear an undefined yet insistent voice calling her name. Lily, at first believed it to be her governess, who, having discovered her absence had first, thrown a fit, than squaring her shoulders had kited up her skirts and gone traipsing off in search of her wayward charge.

Lily felt a twinge of remorse at the trouble that she had put her governess too, but at the same time muttered to herself. ‘It’s so very rare that I get any time to myself, can they not give me just a little longer before they raise the hue and cry?”

The voice came again, sharper and clearer and closer in a way that it had not been only moments earlier. She tipped her head to one side than another, as if by doing so she could hear more clearly and to sort it out from the other sounds in the immediate area: the breeze ruffling the leaves of the trees, the brook, the birds and animals going about their business; and the voice came again, much closer than ever before.

It seemed to be calling her name. In spite of herself Lily shuddered and not from the chilly spring breeze. It suddenly occurred to her that she had been lulled into a similar situation not that long ago when she had lain down in a field of poppies and quite without any warning of the potential danger had almost never woken up again.

Thanks to the efforts of both her mother and the intrepid White Knight who had refused to give up the search she had been spared that fate.

Lily sighed and soon decided that whatever or whoever was out there right this instant calling her name, she wanted nothing to do with it. She pivoted on her heels and carefully walked back along the wall and scrambled down the far side until she was on level ground of the forest once more.

She then walked over to a tree hollow where she had stashed a small leather satchel with her shoes and socks and quickly retrieved them and put them back on her feet.

With that done she quickly but confidently and without undue haste lest she attract unwanted attention retraced her steps back to the palace environs. On her way she ran into her understandably agitated governess. Feeling a bit put out by the whole experience Lily figured she could endure a bit or two of scolding and stood while the older woman did so.

Calling her ‘my little lost lamb, and ‘poor dear, and how could you wander off without any supervision and how am I ever to explain this to their Majesties,” the governess took her by the hand and led her back home.


End file.
